SCOTTISH shearers certainly made their presence felt at the World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships held at Invercargill, New Zealand, last week, when Hamish Mitchell and Gavin Mutch claimed second place in the world team competition before Gavin went on to secure second place in the world open final. 

The four-day competition attracted the best shearers and woolhandlers on the world circuit but it was New Zealanders that dominated in front of a home crowd to pip the Scots to the post in both the team and open finals. Gavin put on a good show in the lead up to the final, heading up the qualifying rounds, but it was Kiwi native Johnny Kirkpatrick, who has also won the open finals at Lochearnhead and the Royal Highland, who claimed the top spot. 

The two Scots, Gavin and Hamish, did clock up the fastest two times but higher marks on the board and in the pen placed Gavin in second and Hamish in fifth. With another Kiwi, Nathan Stratford, in third, it was shearers from across the water in the Emerald Isle that claimed fourth and sixth in the shape of Ivan Scott, Ireland, and Jack Robinson, Northern Ireland. 

It was a similar story for the team title race as New Zealand filled the top spot with Scotland in second, Australia in third, Northern Ireland in fourth, Wales in fifth and Ireland in sixth. 

South African competitors dominated the blade, or hand, shearing finals to claim the team title (Ireland, England and Wales placed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively) with South Africa's Mayenseke Shweni going on to take the individual too. 

Other strong Scottish performances included Mark Armstrong finishing 12th in the world blade section, while woolhandler Audrey Lamb was 9th in the world woolhandling rounds, falling just short of qualifying for the semi-finals, and Rosie Keenan, a senior woolhandler, finished 13th in the All Nations open woolhandling competition. 

Among the other home nations, England's Nick Greaves picked up a second in the senior speed shear as well as fourth in the All Nations senior final, while fellow Englishman George Olof finished sixth in the All Nations intermediate final. Ireland's Ivan Scott added to his fourth in the world final with a sixth in the All Nations open final, and Welshmen John James and Jonathan Reese stood third and fourth in the All Nations intermediate final, respectively. Adding to the Welsh haul of prizes was Robyn Charlton who picked up fourth in the All Nations open woolhandling final.